Struggles on defence a serious Achilles’ heel for upstart Wolves

All us experts figured the combo of great young talent like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, combined with proven successful coaching in Tom Thibodeau, would instantly transform the Wolves into a contender in the west.

That may well ultimately happen. But it will take a little longer than the first quarter of the season.

With its record, and with a defense that currently is hemorrhaging points, Minnesota is a long, long ways away from being a factor in the West. Let's all learn where the brake pedal is, and pump is.

"For us, the focus is on improvement," Thibodeau said. "Just keep improving. So as long as we're doing the right things, and obviously, I'm closer, being there every day, and I see how they are in the meetings, and how they practice, and how they prepare. And as long as we're doing the right things, we'll continue to improve. So that's our challenge. Right now, we're pretty close. But there has to be a consistency, and their understanding when you have young guys, it's understanding what goes into winning, and how hard it is to win in this league, and how hard you have to play, all of the time. It's not some of the time; it's all the time. This is a hard league. But we have high character, we have good work ethic, and I think we will improve."

The Wolves have all the offensive talent in the world. They're fun to watch. Towns is a budding beast. Wiggins lets his rapidly improving skills do most of the talking for him. And Zach LaVine on the wing is must-see TV. But the only issue that matters is defense. Minnesota is, simply, horrible at it at the moment.

Individually, and as a group, the Wolves cannot keep opponents in front of them. Minnesota is third from the bottom in the league in opponents' field goal percentage allowed (46.9; only the Lakers and Nets are worse). Defending without fouling is a staple of Thibodeau's philosophy; the Wolves are 25th in opponent free throw attempts per game (25.6). They're 25th in the league in opponents' points off of turnovers (18.4 points per game), 24th in opponents' fast-break points (14.1), 24th in opponents' second-chance points (14.3).

Everything the Wolves try to do defensively is late. Their rotations are a step late, allowing a single cross-court pass to create a wide-open three look, or a pick and roll to result in an easy dunk. Their transition defense is late. Their contests are late, giving someone who would otherwise have a hand in his face and have to put the ball on the floor or shot fake an unencumbered glance at the basket.

"It's like we see it, but we're not reacting to it quick enough, or we're not all the way getting it," LaVine said. "I see the same thing, myself included. I see a pass in the passing lane and I'm pulled in, and I'm a second late getting to that steal or getting to that contest. It's frustrating. I can see progress there; we're getting better at it. But we've got some of the most athletic people in the world. We should be doing it. And that's probably what's really frustrating to me and probably a lot of other people."

We all should have given more respect to the challenge both Thibodeau and his players faced entering the season. He is Minnesota's fourth head coach in four years. The franchise he now leads after the death of Flip Saunders last season is in flux.

Thibodeau's attention to detail and ceaseless film work are just as thorough as ever. But the basics of what he wants - icing screen and rolls to eliminate the need for a third defender, snuffing out corner 3s, eliminating rim runs from the roller, forcing teams to shoot long twos, high hands at all times - combined with the complex five-man defensive rotations he seeks, are easy to understand, long to master. We all eventually learn how to tie our shoes. But the first hundred or so times you tried when you were a kid, you had to think about what to do. That second of hesitation is killing Minnesota's young players right now.

"It takes time with Thibs, especially with the effort that he wants on the floor, all the time," said Rose, a graduate of the Thibodeau School of Never Satisfied. "He's a hard-nosed coach. But with that group, I heard he's taking his time with them, giving them space to make mistakes. It's going to take time. They're a young group, trying to figure out what their identity is going to be. Just because the coach is a defensive specialist doesn't mean that they're going to get it right away."